Seeding leaves Tar Heels dealing with emotions

Published: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 12:56 AM.

All this despite Williams describing the food as good when his team gathered at his home Sunday night for the NCAA Tournament selection show.

“The reaction was unusual,” Williams said Tuesday. “I was stunned when I saw the No. 8 and North Carolina. … It was a confusing show and I’m still confused.”

The Tar Heels, playing in the South Region, face ninth-seeded Villanova on Friday night in Kansas City.

Though the disappointment of losing to Miami in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament was followed a few hours later by the lower-than-anticipated seed for the NCAA Tournament, there could be a positive fallout.

“I think it kind of helped us also,” Strickland said. “It put anger in all of us (to prove we’re better).”

All this despite Williams describing the food as good when his team gathered at his home Sunday night for the NCAA Tournament selection show.

“The reaction was unusual,” Williams said Tuesday. “I was stunned when I saw the No. 8 and North Carolina. … It was a confusing show and I’m still confused.”

The Tar Heels, playing in the South Region, face ninth-seeded Villanova on Friday night in Kansas City.

Though the disappointment of losing to Miami in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament was followed a few hours later by the lower-than-anticipated seed for the NCAA Tournament, there could be a positive fallout.

“I think it kind of helped us also,” Strickland said. “It put anger in all of us (to prove we’re better).”

The Atlantic Coast Conference has four teams in the tournament – No. 2 seeds Miami and Duke, No. 8 seeds North Carolina and North Carolina State.

In Williams’ mind, the conference was short-changed in terms of the number of teams and the seeds they received.

“I didn’t think it was necessarily good for our league, fair for our league,” he said after he was prodded when he pointed out that anything discussed sounds like whining.

“I thought we’d be higher,” North Carolina swingman P.J. Hairston said. “But we still have to play.”

One element of the selection process is the Ratings Percentage Index. North Carolina (24-10) was in the No. 17-19 range in that listing.

“Divide that by four and you don’t get that 8,” Williams said.

On top of it, if North Carolina wins its opening game the likely opponent will be Kansas, which eliminated the Tar Heels last year in St. Louis. Williams is a former Kansas coach, though that storyline for a North Carolina / Kansas matchup has been exhausted twice before since Williams changed coaching jobs.

Williams laughed when asked if he thought the potential for a North Carolina / Kansas game was something forced by the committee to make for appealing television.

“They don’t put North Carolina in Kansas City to fill the arena,” Williams said. “The arena is going to be filled.”

But first things first, because Villanova (20-13) stands in the way of another possible sentimental experience for Williams.

“(You have) to win a game to get there,” Williams said. “You’ve still got to play.”